Partners in Crime
by Lily Sang
Summary: Seven and six year old Trunks and Goten are bored with the quiet life of peace-time. What kind of trouble will two restless little boys get up to? And will any of the Z-Warriors emerge unscathed?


"Trunks," Goten whined, "There's nothing to do. I'm boooored!"

"Shush." Trunks, sprawled out on his bed, was reading a comic book. "I'm just getting to the good part."

"Let me see!" said Goten eagerly, shoving Trunks out of the way and snatching up the comic. He opened it and greedily began to read, but was soon disappointed. "Phooey! This one's six months old."

"Give it back!" Trunks protested, but he didn't try to grab it. It'd get wrecked otherwise.

Goten tossed the comic book aside. "Why're you reading it?"

Trunks sighed. "Maybe you're right. There's nothing to do. Even Showdown's getting old." They were both being driven out of their minds with boredom. But things hadn't always been this way. Trunks's mom told him that, back in the day, ten bad guys tried to take over the earth before breakfast. How come everyone got to save the world but them? It wasn't fair.

"Maybe we should ask Gohan what to do," Goten suggested. Trunks shook his head.

"Nah. He's busy with school now, remember? Besides, he's so boring. He never does anything cool..." Trunks's eyes widened and he jumped up. "That's it!"

"What, what?" Goten demanded, seeing the sly grin on his best friend's face. He knew that look. It meant that Trunks had an idea.

"What if we got a bunch of Metallica and Iron Maiden posters, maybe some hair dye and gel, and put them up in Gohan's room?"

Goten was confused. "Why? You mean as a present? He doesn't like stuff like that. Plus, mom cleans in there and if she sees that stuff she'll totally-" Goten cut himself off, realization dawning. "She'll _freak_."

Trunks nodded. "Yeah. Won't that be funny?"

"But what about when Gohan gets home and talks to her? Won't they find out that someone set them up?"

"Oh, we could just take everything away when she's chewing him out. They'll come upstairs and there won't be a trace of anything suspicious." Trunks rubbed his hands together deviously, already planning out the details.

Goten, on the other hand, was clearly struggling. "But... but won't it be mean to do that?"

Trunks frowned. Goten had always been just a little too cautious. "No, stupid." He shoved the younger half-Saiyan. "Beating people up for no reason is mean. Hiding a few things in your brother's room isn't."

That won Goten over. He got off the bed too, smiling. "Hee hee! Mom'll totally flip out when she thinks Gohan's gone punk for real."

OoO

"Thanks for lunch, Chi-Chi," Trunks said as he carried his dishes into the kitchen of the Son's house, two days later.

"Can me and Trunks play outside now?" Goten asked, peeking through the doorway. "I finished all my math homework."

"_May _Trunks and _I_, dear," Chi-Chi corrected. "And yes, you can. Just don't play Showdown. I'm not raising my son to be a thug."

It was at times like this that made Trunks grateful for his home and parents. Goten's dad was dead, Chi-Chi barely had enough money to feed the three of them, and she was the strictest mom around. Goten and Gohan weren't allowed to fight and they had to have lessons every single day. Trunks had long since learned to be on his best behavior around Chi-Chi, or else Goten wasn't allowed to see him. Once Chi-Chi thought you were a bad influence, it was hard to change her mind.

Bulma, on the other hand, basically let Trunks do whatever he wanted as long as it was legal. Sometimes they'd go on trips to other cities and she'd tell him about their culture and traditions. They were rich, so Trunks got all the toys he wanted.

The only thing that Trunks had to do was train with his father in the gravity room, but Trunks didn't mind at all. It was his dream to become as strong as his dad. As far as he was concerned, Vegeta was the coolest person ever. Trunks wanted to be like him: powerful enough to blow up the planet, but intimidating and clever enough that he didn't need to in order to get his way.

Trunks would never admit it, but sometimes Vegeta scared him. Bulma said that he used to be one of the bad guys and it took every decent fighter they had to stop him and his cohort, Nappa, from destroying the earth. Vegeta was forced to join forces with Kuririn and Gohan when they were fighting an even more powerful guy and he had stayed on earth ever since. Trunks tried to stay out of his way when he was angry. He had a bad temper.

"Come on, Trunks! Let's see who can catch the most frogs!" Goten called over his shoulder, running out the door.

"Race you!" Trunks yelled, chasing after him. In less than two seconds, they were out of sight of the house. They slowed down.

"Where'd you hide the stuff?" Goten asked, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Follow me," Trunks said. He took off, searching for the tree. After a few moments he found it: a massive oak, at least twenty years old, tall enough to dwarf all the other trees in comparison. Trunks squinted up into the thick branches, looking for the right one. He took off from the ground and landed neatly on a branch thicker than he was tall.

"Wait up!" Goten screamed, just a tiny speck far below Trunks. As quick as a monkey, the six year old jumped onto the lowest branch and scampered up the giant trunk. When Goten was over halfway there, Trunks walked over to a hole in the bark. Part of the tree had been hollowed out so there was just enough room to house a four foot long duffel bag. He pulled it out just as Goten swung himself up onto the branch.

"Cool! That's a really good hiding spot, Trunks," Goten said. Trunks smiled.

"Thanks. You can use it, if you want." He passed the duffel bag to Goten. "Let's go." Trunks flew back down to the ground, carrying Goten and the bag. The two boys ran back to the Son's house, eyes bright with mischief.

Once they had snuck into Gohan's room, they set up their plan: death metal posters on the walls, shredded muscle shirts and jeans in the closet, four different colors of hair dye (red, white, purple and orange) on the dresser. As a finishing touch, Trunks used concentrated chi blasts to burn some incense.

"So what now?" Goten asked, after they had finished.

"Now we wait for Chi-Chi to find our handiwork," Trunks grinned.

OoO

Whistling cheerfully to herself, Chi-Chi made her way to her eldest's room, vacuum cleaner and feather duster in tow. Though there were plenty of things she'd rather be doing, she was happy to clean Gohan's room as long as he was pursuing an education.

She pushed open the door, looked up at her son's room, and froze. Her cleaning supplies slipped out of her hands and clattered noisily to the floor. Chi-Chi's eyes frantically searched the room for some evidence that she was hallucinating.

The room, her dear, sweet Gohan's bedroom, was strewn with tattered clothing not even fit for a homeless person. Posters with grotesque skulls, their mouths open in silent shrieks of pain, decorated the very walls that Chi-Chi's father had helped her paint. The thick, musky smell of lavender saturated the air. Incense. And there was something new on the dresser. Chi-Chi stepped into the room to see what it was.

Hair dye. Lots of it.

"GOHAAAN!"

OoO

Chi-Chi stormed out of the room to call Gohan's high school, too blinded by rage to see the two small faces peeking out through the window. As soon as she was gone, Trunks and Goten let go of the window sill and dropped to the ground. Both boys simultaneously collapsed into fits of giggles.

"Mom's face!" Goten howled, rolling around on the grass. "Boy, am I glad I'm not Gohan. He's gonna be _slaughtered_."

"Quick, let's clean everything up before Gohan gets home," Trunks said once he had recovered from the side-splitting laughter. The boys snuck back in and started fixing the room. Goten tore down the posters and stuffed everything back in the bag, while Trunks opened the windows all the way and sprayed Febreeze everywhere to get rid of the smell. As they were working, Chi-Chi's voice drifted in from the living room.

"Yes, I'd like to speak to Son Gohan please. Grade 11." A long pause. "_Gohan_! Come home right this second. You have some explaining to do, young man." Another pause. "I don't care, you can miss a few classes just this once. I think you know what I'm talking about. Don't drag your feet!" Chi-Chi must have hung up because there was silence.

"Looks like that's everything," Trunks whispered to Goten, shoving the spray bottle into his duffel bag. "Let's get out of here."

"Aren't we going to wait until Gohan gets home?" Goten asked. "You know, to see them fight?"

"You can if you want." Trunks was sneaking out the window again. "I just came for the look on Chi-Chi's face."

Torn, Goten glanced at his escaping best friend, then at the bedroom door. He could hear Chi-Chi stomping around the house, radiating fury. "Wait up!" he yelped, climbing out after Trunks, "Mom's too scary."

OoO

That night, Trunks lay on his bed chatting with Goten on a laptop.

_**Sir_Trunks: **so what happened when gohan got home?_

_**GotenTehBurninator: **mom yelled at him alot. when they couldnt find the stuff they just sorta shrugged and mom let it pass. shes still keepin an eye on gohan tho_

_**Sir_Trunks: **haha it'll take sumthing AMAZING 2 get him out of the doghouse_

_**GotenTehBurninator: **ya that wuz so much fun. we hav 2 do another 1_

_**Sir_Trunks: **brb_

Trunks had just spotted a pile of blank notebooks on one of his bookshelves and gotten an idea. He crossed the room and grabbed the one on top, plus a pencil. He filled in the information on the cover.

_Name: **Trunks Briefs**_

_Use: **Mission logbook**_

Trunks flipped to the first page and began to write.

_**#1: Operation Punk**_

_**Description: Hide stuff around Gohan's bedroom so Chi-Chi thinks he's become cool.**_

_**Success! Chi-Chi's face was priceless. Nobody even began to suspect us, and boredom has been destroyed. Note- must give separate notebook to Goten. Also, backpacks would be useful. Start brainstorming next trick ASAP!  
**_


End file.
